Improving
Emergency
Cardiac Care
Saves Lives
CARES
Cardiac Arrest Registry
to Enhance Survival
cardiac arrest (OHCA) occur in the United States.
Working Together to Improve
Emergency Cardiac Care
Almost two-thirds are treated by emergency
The CARES system:
medical services (EMS) providers. Commu-
• U
ses a secure Web database with restricted
access for authorized users.
Each year, 295,000 cases of out-of-hospital
nity rates of OHCA survival are generally low
(2%–40%). Quickly implementing the “chain of
survival” is crucial to surviving OHCA, but many
communities cannot measure how effectively
EMS providers activate the chain. Without
adequate performance measures, these
communities lose opportunities to improve
emergency cardiac care and save lives.
• H
as software that collects and links data sources
to create a single de-identified record for each OHCA
event.
Save more lives
from OHCA.
• U
ses a simple, HIPAA-compliant methodology to
protect confidentiality.
trengthen collaboS
ration among 9-1-1
centers, first responders, EMS agencies,
and hospitals.
• A
ccepts a variety of input methods, such as scanned
paper copies, uploaded data files, or online data entry.
• C
ollects 9-1-1 computer-aided dispatch data for EMS
response times.
• A
llows longitudinal, internal benchmarking of key
performance indicators.
The Cardiac Arrest Registry
to Enhance Survival (CARES)
• P
rovides multiple reporting features, including charts,
graphs, and maps.
In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) collaborated with Emory University and the American Heart Association to develop a registry that could
help increase OHCA survival rates.
Helping Communities Identify
Opportunities for Improvement
CARES is a secure, Web-based data management
system in which participating communities enter local
data and generate their own reports. Communities can
compare their EMS system performance to de-identified
aggregate statistics at the local or national level and
discover promising practices that could improve
emergency cardiac care.
CARES helps local EMS administrators and community
leaders answer such questions as:
• Who is affected in my community?
• When and where are cardiac events happening?
• What parts of the system are working well?
• What parts of the system could work better?
• How can we improve emergency cardiac treatment?
Using the Chain of Survival
Early use of automated external
defibrillator (AED).
Rapid activation of EMS via 9-1-1.
CPR started quickly.
Rapid delivery
of appropriate
and timely care.
Provide a simple,
confidential, HIPAAcompliant process
to determine patient
outcomes.
Provide technical
assistance to help
community leaders
identify and prioritize opportunities to
improve EMS
performance.
Current CARES Sites
Reaching
Across
the Nation
CDC pilot tested CARES in
the Atlanta metropolitan
area in 2005. The
next year, the registry
expanded to six additional
metropolitan areas. In June
2009, CARES included 28
participating communities
in 17 states and the District
of Columbia.
These communities are
located across the country,
from Massachusetts to
California and Alaska to
Saving Lives Through Improved
Care and Prevention
CARES is funded by CDC, developed and managed
by the Emory University School of Medicine, and
implemented by EMS agencies across the United States.
CARES provides a platform for stronger connections
among community emergency services. The long-term
goal of CARES is to save lives by improving emergency
cardiac care at the community level and increasing
public awareness of the importance of prevention and
emergency treatment of heart disease. Steps to meet that
goal include improving the performance of EMS systems
by providing opportunities for internal and external
performance evaluation.
Texas. Interest in CARES
continues to grow, and
more communities have
More information about CARES is available at
http://mycares.net
expressed a desire to
participate and are working
to implement the registry.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion
Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Mail Stop K-47 • 4770 Buford Highway, NE • Atlanta, GA 30341
Telephone: 800-CDC-Info (800-232-4636) • TTY: 888-232-6348
E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov • Web: http://www.cdc.gov/DHDSP